1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a toy suitable for children of young ages and particularly, to a toy which simulates the environment of an automobile and enables a child to simulate the motions of a person driving a car.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many toys designed for young children do not maintain the child's interest for a long period of time. This is usually due to the fact that most toys specifically designed for young children do not produce visual or audio responses to the child's physical manipulation of the toy. In addition, many children's toys are not designed to relate to the child's real-life everyday observations and experiences. As a result, after a relatively short period of playing time, the child no longer finds the toy exciting and very rarely plays with it again.
One of the most exciting experiences to many children is riding in an automobile and, after watching the driver manipulate the controls, the child invariably imitates the motions of the driver. The audio and visual responses to a driver's manipulation of the various driving controls, such as a steering wheel or a horn, capture the child's attention and interest.
There have been a number of prior art toys designed to enable a child to simulate the actions of driving an automobile. Some of these prior art toys are the subject matter of U.S. D-197,339; D-200,863; D-220,636; and U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,733,543; 3,120,716; 3,659,375; and 3,715,832.
Although these patented driving simulator toys are generally satisfactory for their intended purposes, they do not provide a totally realistic driving environment for a child. On most of the toys, the driving controls are mounted on a dashboard-like frame which rests directly on the floor. To play with the toy, the child has to sit with legs crossed in front of the toy and, thereupon, stretch his arms out a relatively long distance to reach and manipulate the various controls. Otherwise, the child would have to sprawl out on the floor in a prone position on his stomach or his side so that he could manipulate all of the controls.
In another application, the console was supported, not on the floor, but by a standing child by means of a neck strap.
In all of these prior art simulator toys, the child either had to stand, sit with legs crossed, or sprawl out on his stomach or side in a generally prone position. None of these positions realistically duplicated the actual position of a driver of an automobile. Particularly, none of these positions simulated the orientation of a driver of a sports car, wherein the driver sits in a low-slung bucket seat with his legs fully outstretched.
The prior art toys, therefore, did not permit a child to orient his body relative to the driving controls in a real-life driving position. The child, thus, does not truly believe he is behind the wheel of a car and, therefore, quickly loses interest in playing with the toy.